Posts by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Huawei to invest $100m in startups in APAC, makes first travel move in Middle East
24/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Spark programme in second year, Wego first partner in MENA region AS part of its move away from hardware, Huawei is scaling up its cloud services and startup support in Asia Pacific and while travel and hospitality is still not top of mind, its move into this vertical seems inevitable with the e [...]
ixigo’s road to profitability and IPO – how it did it and the future of bus and rail
17/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
FROM the start when Covid first struck, it was inevitable the road ixigo would take to raise future funds – via an IPO. CEO and Co-founder Aloke Bajpai hinted at this during a wide-ranging interview with WiT around this time last year. When asked what was one of the positives that had emerged [...]
Practising for my first flight – my four-step plan to travel
13/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
THIS week, I took out my suitcase, dusted it off and started wheeling it around. Got my dogs excited with this unfamiliar activity – maybe they will be pleased to see the back of me after all this time. I rummaged around for my passport. Since I've had at least two house clean-ups in the last [...]
Travel can heal – how suppliers are addressing wellbeing and wellness needs of consumers
12/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
AS the pandemic wears on and takes alarming twists and turns around the world, it is clearly taking its toll on mental wellbeing and wellness and there is no denying that when travellers get back on the road, travel is in a unique position to address this need – from wellness retreats to immersio [...]
Mystifly extends flights platform to non-travel brands, creates new call centre business
11/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“We survived, now ready to thrive,” says Rajeev Kumar on 12th (no, second) anniversary IT may be Mystifly’s 12th anniversary but to founder Rajeev Kumar and co-founder Bharat Goyal, it feels more like its second year “because we went back to zero” when the pandemic devastated its B2B f [...]
Farewell, Datuk Kee – you made a difference to Penang
04/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
ANYONE who’s ever had any dealings with Penang’s travel industry would have met her, if not, would have known or heard of her. In fact, more often than not, you would hear or sense her before she actually arrived on the scene because Datuk Kee Phaik Cheen had a personality that was larger t [...]
It will be a while before flights get better for consumers and here’s why
03/08/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Fixing flights still cumbersome, only a few players can be globally competitive, says Etraveli's Hedlund WHILE everyone is dreaming of “better travel” ahead, post-Covid, it will still be a while before flight bookings become a good consumer experience and in fact, according to Mathias Hedlun [...]
Travellers don’t want same old, they want new – from how they travel to where they go
28/07/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Expedia's first Traveler Value Index shows consumers “do not want to go back to what it was in 2019”, says Greg Schulze JUST as the Olympics, which is currently ongoing in Japan, proves that sports can unite humanity, so can travel and Expedia Group’s Greg Schulze believes it won’t be lo [...]
What Yanolja intends to do with its new $1.7b funding
26/07/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
No plans for consumer superapp outside South Korea, focus is on building next-gen travel platform “beyond OTA”, says CEO Jongyoon Kim WHEN news broke of SoftBank Vision Fund’s US$1.7b investment in Yanolja last week staff of the South Korean travel unicorn were working from home due to tig [...]
“Animal spirits” keeping travel alive, Phuket Sandbox making history
22/07/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
LET'S face it, there’s just no killing the human desire to travel. Look at all the conditions around travel these days and all the news about rising infections, and you’d be surprised there are still people travelling – people finding ways to get around the restrictions. It’s amazing to [...]